Rural Route Four: The Good Ol' Days Were Never Better

By Phillip Burgess

Rural Route Four is a mail route that serves folks living in the small community of Needmore, Alabama, in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. But it's much more. It's where generation after generation lives a simple life where the work is hard and days are long.

Dirt roads there lead to small farms where corn and cotton grow in long, winding rows. It's where folks sit under oak trees in the backyard after supper and talk about the news of the day.

It's home to a rambunctious boy who wanders its forests with his dogs, Pup, Prissy, and Pedro. It's where the barn loft magically becomes a fort, where the farmers gather at Rip's Needmore Grocery to share tall tales, and where the watermelons are sweet and plentiful.

Life on Rural Route Four makes for intriguing stories. And the boy who lived there, now retired after a career in media and public relations, fondly recalls the stories of his youth.

In Rural Route Four: The Good Ol' Days Were Never Better, he sews together his memories into a quilt of his life.

Pour yourself a tall glass of sweet tea, relax, and take a trip to Rural Route Four. You'll enjoy it!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Mar 16, 2022
• ISBN: 9781639611362

Book preview

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Rural Route Four

The Good Ol' Days Were Never Better

Phillip Burgess

ISBN 978-1-68570-648-7 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-63961-137-9 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-63961-136-2 (digital)

Copyright © 2022 by Phillip Burgess

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Foreword

Introduction

The Voices of Rural Route Four

Rip's Needmore Grocery

Pa's Bank Note

Kids with Rods and Reels

The Day the Helicopters Came

The Peddler's Tomato Soup

Finding my Burgess Roots

Treats and a Big Trick

A Love Affair with Ice Cream

A Tribute to Mama B

A Perfect Day

Running from a Needle

The Legend of the Hoop Snake

Smoke, Fire, and a Little Girl

The Hayfield

Daddy Grand's War

Calendar on a Nail

The Baseball Stadium

The Funeral of Ada the Mule

A Banana-Triggered Memory

Cupid's Deadly Arrows

The Magic of a Barn Loft

Proving Our Mettle

Blackberries and a Lost Ring

Following A Boat to Disaster

Eating Our Catch

Canning Beans on July 4th

A Blue Ribbon at the County Fair

Decoration Day

Trying to Be Little Earl

Mama B's Green Can Opener

A Holy Watermelon Patch?

A Stinky Graduation Practice

Uncle Tom's Arrowhead

October in the Peanut Patch

The Day the Washing Machine Ate My Arm

A Fluffy Playground

Selling Old Bottles

Pa's Silver Dollars

The Dime Store

The Dinner Bell

A Lesson from Raking Leaves

An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving

Dreaming with the Wish Book

The Ceramic Dog—A Christmas Story

About the Author

So many people played a significant role in my youth on Rural Route Four even though at the time I didn't realize it. With time, I've come to realize and appreciate the folks who, like my own family, lived modestly but happily in the country, away from the lights and rigors of city life.

My parents, Daddy Grand and Mama B, were excellent teachers who taught by example, not only to me but also to my siblings and others in the community.

As an author, I am indebted to my mentor, the late Jesse Culp, who took me under his wing and taught me lessons not only about writing but also about treating people with respect.

I dedicate this book to anyone who has walked down a dirt road, picked blackberries, or stacked hay in a barn in summer's heat. Likewise, to those who remember sitting under trees at dusk, turning the crank to make homemade ice cream, or lazily sitting at a country store while enjoying a soft drink with parched peanuts.

Finally, this collection of stories is for anyone who relishes an occasional trip down memory lane to a simpler time remembered as the good ol' days.

I hope you enjoy these stories.

They are a reminder of who I am and from whence I came. And, hopefully, they will likewise remind you.

Look unto the rock whence ye are hewn

—Isaiah 51:1

Foreword

Phillip Burgess has been my friend for more than fourteen years now. He confided to me early on that he'd come up hard and, indeed, reading Rural Route Four: The Good Ol' Days Were Never Better stirred feelings of deep admiration on the one hand and self-consciousness on the other. Having enjoyed a comfortable suburban upbringing, I wouldn't have been nearly equal to the demands of daily life on Sand Mountain.

But while Phillip relates the rigor of that life with crystal clarity, he does so with deep affection for the place and its people—his people. More than merely understanding that that life made him the man he is today, he appreciates it. What is clear is that Phillip wouldn't have traded his life on Rural Route Four for anyone's or for anything.

And really, aren't Phillip's memories our memories? Don't we all have a place like Rip's Needmore Grocery? Friends like the ones with whom he smoked cigars and ate sardines and crackers while camping out? A first crush like the one he had at Panama City? Pets like Pedro and, for that matter, Midnight Chief?

Sharing Phillip's memories, our own gauzy recollections return—and make us smile. What better reason, then, to carve out some time and join my friend on and around Rural Route Four?

Bob Gary Jr.

Writer/journalist

Introduction

Nostalgia surrounds me like leather gloves on hands that are freezing. I often find myself living in the past. It's comfortable there, like a pair of well-worn jeans—innocent, familiar, nonthreatening.

In my mind, I walk the fields and woods of my childhood. The skies are blue; a mockingbird favors me with a symphony. And as the wind gently blows through the oak and pine trees, I hear them rejoicing.

What a contrast to the world today. So I often make the mental trip to Rural Route Four. Where neighbors extend a hand. And receive one when needed. Where work is honorable regardless of the task. Where small things are important, like homemade ice cream, fried okra, and cold watermelon. Where Sunday afternoons are peaceful while sitting under the big oak trees in the backyard. Words aren't necessary. Contentment is easy. And time slows down. The sun sets and dusk embraces us. And we sleep peacefully.

Rural Route Four. Yes, it's a postal route, more than one hundred years old, that serves residents in rural North Alabama communities like Needmore, a wide place in the road along Highway 168 atop Sand Mountain. You won't find any famous people there unless you count Daddy Grand, my father, for growing the best watermelons in the community, and Rip Hammonds, the proprietor of Rip's Needmore Grocery, where the farmers gathered to swap tall tales. And while I can't verify it, there were whispers about a neighbor and moonshine still in the backwoods near Slate Rock Hill.

I grew up in the curve of a dirt road, about two-tenths of a mile from the New Hope Primitive Baptist Church. The paved road ended there, and every time a